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I’ve been using a little program called VinylStudio for several years now. It makes the process of transferring vinyl records into my computer (and into my iTunes library) relatively easy. Since I have a new-ish Mac Mini that I use for my audio work, I updated my old version to version 8.8.2 and thought I’d post a review.

First disclosure, the software came to me courtesy of my wallet. It’s difficult (but not impossible) to write a truly unbiased review in exchange for a free thing-that-you’re reviewing. A pet peeve of mine is when reviewers don’t state up front who paid for the item, so I can take the review with one or two grains of salt.

The main screen of VinylStudio. Here I’m working on a transfer for a client in Nashville called “A Christmas Delight” by Winifred Smith, cut in 1967… not likely to show up on iTunes anytime soon.

VinylStudio was designed to be a standalone program for getting your vinyl records onto your computer. At $30, its a fairly inexpensive, yet still pretty capable program. You can use it to burn CDs of your records if you like, or save the files in a number of different formats besides MP3s, including WAV, AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format), ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), DFF, DSF, (there are different types of Direct Stream Digital formats) FLAC Free Lossless Audio Codec), and OGG (Ogg Vorbis open-source format).

The program has a capable noise reduction section, but I use other programs for this job. It’s not because Vinyl Studio can’t do the job, it’s just that I’ve been using other programs for editing and noise reduction for years and I’m more familiar with them. Besides, they cost a pile of money so I’d rather use them than let them sit. I mainly use Adobe Soundbooth CS5 for editing and noise reduction, but for really difficult situations, I’ll use Izotope RX Pro.

While you can use VinylStudio to record the file directly into your computer, I record onto a Somy PCM10 recorder. The biggest reason is that my turntable is downstairs in the basement, and my audio workstation is in the office upstairs. I always clean the surface of the vinyl with a water-alcohol solution. (three parts distilled water, one part pure isopropryl alcohol, and one or two drops of Dawn dish detergent to break the surface tension. I usually make a gallon at a time). One of these days I’ll build an utrasonic/ centrifugal record cleaning machine. A somewhat risky way to clean really dirty albums is with a thin layer of Elmer’s glue. Once dry, it peels away from the vinyl, taking specks of dust and dirt with it. I’ve only done this experimentally though. Once recorded, I bring the PCM10 upstairs and download the file into my computer.

First I usually apply a rumble filter which greatly cleans up the waveform, then scan for really obnoxious pops and fix these individually. I’ll then declick the guard bands in between songs. But it’s rare that I’ll do further noise reduction… a certain amount of minor clicks and crackle is a part of the vinyl experience, and too much cleanup destroys the character. I’ll manually optimize the file and balance the tracks if necessary.

With that done, I then bring the file into Vinyl Studio for final work. This is where the program is a huge time-saver… dividing the file into individual songs, and looking through databases on the internet for the track names. This way, you are saved the work of typing in each track name individually. Sometimes it doesn’t work, like when the database can’t find a record, or more rarely, when there were several different versions of a record on vinyl or CD and the order of the songs has been rearranged. But more often than not, it works well. Then it’s a matter of trimming the breaks between the tracks to make the start and stop more accurate.

Another great advantage of the program is bringing the album into my iTunes library, which is a simple one-button affair. VERY handy.

Overall there aren’t a number of big changes with the program over the previous version, which is a relief. It’s a must-have if you’re new to vinyl. For me, it’s a super way to preserve my collection, which includes a small number of fairly expensive and hard-to-replace classics. For casual listening, I just hit the spacebar on my computer. It isn’t the same as cleaning the record and dropping the needle, but it’s really close. Vinyl has a finite number of times it can be played before it gets worn out, and this keeps your collection in nearly unplayed shape. Besides, it’s fun… and records can be traded or sold, which can’t be done with Spotify or iTunes. Buy yourself a turntable, a preamp, some old records, and this program and give it a try… it’ll change the way you enjoy music!

Another commercial that I did awhile back in Atlanta. Admittedly not much audio made it to the final cut, but trust me, it’s there!

Here’s a video that I worked on for RedBull Media in 2015. It features Manon Mathews and Bree Esserig, a pair of very smart, funny young actresses. They’re already semi-famous… they were stopped for photos a number of times… but I’m sure they’ll go far.

I first met Claire Lynch when she was the lead vocalist for the Front Porch String Band, when I recorded the band on location for an undergraduate project. This would have been around 1981. (Unfortunately, the tapes were lost long ago.) Jump ahead 35 years, Claire has her own band and has won the IBMA’s Best Female Vocalist Award… twice… so it goes without saying that she’s a pretty amazing singer and songwriter. (Don’t take my word for it… listen to one of her songs.) And she’s coming to Barking Legs in Chattanooga, 8pm this Friday night. Claire’s website is here.

Barking legs is a SUPER venue for this concert. If you’ve never been there, it’s a small performance space. The most it’ll hold is maybe 150-175 people, and the furthest seat back is 4 rows away. The only way you’ll get a better seat is to have her play at your house.

I normally try to do a location recording when she comes to town, but won’t get the chance this time… I’m in the middle of a 3-day shoot for TLC. I should be able to just make the concert, though.

She doesn’t play here very often, so if you’re into progressive bluegrass at all, don’t miss this chance to hear her play– show starts at 8pm. Tickets are $21 in advance, available on the Barking Legs website (shortcut)

As I’ve said before, Harrison’s Mixbus is my DAW of choice. Sure, I’ve used ProTools like everybody else. And it works fine, but I don’t exactly love it for a number of reasons. I discovered Mixbus at a Nashville AES event, and was an immediate fan & early adopter. It’s been through a number of versions, the most recent being Mixbus 3.4. I used it to mix a recent live music project. Here’s the workflow:

Since I don’t have a studio anymore, I rarely use Mixbus for tracking. Instead I like to use a dedicated recorder. First choice would be an Otari MX80 or MTR90 2″ 24-track, but I haven’t had access to one of those in a long time… and at about 350 pounds, it isn’t exactly practical for location work. So instead, I used my Sound Devices 664. It can record up to 12 channels, but I did this recording before I got my new CL-12 controller, so six channels is easier… six faders and six XLR inputs. As this was a three-person band, six tracks would work. Track assignments on most tracks were three vocals, bass, kick, and accordion. There were other instruments as well– most notably percussion consisting of a washboard played with toilet brushes and a tambourine that was played by Rachel’s left foot while her right foot played the kick– but these were picked up with the main vocal mic, the Watts Polyribbon , as well as the instrument mics. The other two mics were headworn earwires via a Lectrosonics wireless. Most of my instrument mics were handbuilt large-diaphragm condensers, except for the mandolin and guitar, when I brought out my Oktavia 012.

“Spinsters” location recording session in a burned-out house, summer 2016 in Chattanooga, TN

The final output will be a music video, but it was to be shot in one continuous take. So everything needed to be captured live… no overdubs or punch-ins, just individual track sweetening and mixing. We recorded in a burned-out house, which gave an interesting room sound. It was kind of reflective, but not in the usual sense. No soft surfaces anywhere, since most of them burned, but there were lots of irregular surfaces to break up standing waves. A fairly short reverb time, not a huge space, but nice high ceilings. Hard to describe, other than to say it was an interesting, nice space.

Once the capture was complete, I brought it home to mix. My preference is to do all the editing in the box, then use a multi channel interface to output the individual tracks to my rebuilt Soundcraft 800. But again the practicalities of space and weight rear their heads… the mixer is up in Nashville and all my other gear is in storage, so for simplicity’s sake I’ll mix this on my desktop. My audio computer consists of a Mac Mini with a 3TB thunderbolt external drive for the audio. I have a Universal Audio Apollo Twin interface that I use as a monitor controller and a dongle for my UA plugins (you have to have some kind of Universal Audio hardware connected in order to get the plugins to work.) UA plugins are somewhat expensive, but they work well and are far cheaper than their hardware equivalents… I like them a lot. My main reverb is the EMT140 plate, though I’ve got the Lexicon 224 plugin on my watchlist… I’m waiting for a good sale!

The mixbus screenshot for “mule.” This one was a pretty simple mix since there are only four tracks… two vocals, guitar and bass.

The reason I’m such a Mixbus fan is that it looks and feels like an analog mixer. Each input channel has a full EQ section and an onboard compressor, just as Harrison’s analog mixers had. I can import individual WAV files from the 664 and it opens up an 8 channel mix surface in Mixbus. (Update: Just this morning I purchased Harrison’s new Mixbus 32C, which is their newest version of Mixbus. It functions in a similar manner to the standard Mixbus, but features an exact emulation of the Harrison X32 console, with expanded EQ, filtering, and compression options. Watch for a review once I’ve had a chance to thouroughly test it out.)

“Mule” was a pretty simple song to mix, as there were only two vocal mics (my handbuilt LDCs), a guitar mic (Oktavia 012), and an upright bass (Watts Polyribbon), The first two tracks in the screenshot are muted– these are the field mixes from the 664, not used in the final mix. Rachel Vox is a harmony track, Amelia sings lead on this song. I added a little brightness to her vocal and guitar using Harrison’s EQ, then smoothed out the levels a bit with some compression. The only plugin I used was the EMT140 plate, which I tried not to overdo… remember, this is for video, and it might look weird to have lots of post effects in the mix. But this is a slow ballad, so I felt it needed little more ‘verb than the other songs.

Izotope RX5 Advanced screenshot. While some of these tools are available as plugins, I bought the standalone version, which has more capabilities. I’m hooked on the de-noise and de-plosive modules, which fixed problems that were unfixable in the past.

This song has some quiet passages, and noise from outside the house was more noticeable. Windows were broken in the fire, the house is on a fairly busy street, and nearby AC units all added together to give us more background noise than I’d have liked. RX5 Advanced is the answer to this problem, so I exported the mix as a FLAC and opened this in RX5.

I bought this program for noise reduction and sweetening of voice narration, but it works great in this application as well. I used the spectral de-noise module to learn a short sample of the ambient noise at the end of the track, and applied this profile to the entire song. It worked like a charm. Every time I use this program, I’m amazed at the results. It has lots of other functions and capabilities, but I left most of this alone, as I didn’t want to overprocess the song. I exported this as a WAV file.

To finalize the track, I opened it in Adobe Soundbooth CS5. Adobe abandoned this program when they went to CS6, but I’ve always found it great to use, especially for cleanup, editing, etc. I trimmed the head and the tail, added fade in and fade out, and saved as an MP3 (which Izotope can’t do). Job done… here’s the audio track:

I’ll post the video as soon as it becomes available.

Here’s another piece that I recently worked on for Delta Airlines with Seftel/Smartypants Pictures. Location audio by Atlanta mixer  Jay Ticer and myself.

I recorded several of the interview segments for this show by Jim Brown Productions- John Carter Cash, Reggie Young, and Marty Stuart. Great fun to work on this one!

Marty Stuart during an interview

Me with Reggie Young, one of the original Nashville Cats.

I’ve recently installed a new, very powerful noise reduction software package, RX5 Advanced. It’s a 2-track spectral repair and mastering program that has some abilities that are pretty amazing. It’s not exactly a miracle worker… it can’t take poorly-recorded audio and magically make it good. But it can improve a lot of problem files, some of them dramatically.

Since I’ve just started using it, there are a lot of features that I’ve only started to explore. But what I’ve seen so far is is really fun. The display is a spectrograph, where frequency is displayed on the Y axis (up and down), time on the X axis (left to right), and intensity as brightness… louder sounds are brighter. A standard waveform is overlaid in blue, and there’s a slide that lets you adjust the display for pure spectrogram, pure waveform, or anything in between. The end result is a lot of information about your file that you can quickly and easily understand. For example, see the horizontal bands in the lower right corner? That’s a train horn in the distance. The darker bands before and after the loudest parts of the file are where I’ve applied the denoise module… this file was recorded outdoors, and there was  interstate noise in the distance that sounds a lot like white noise. The program was able to learn the background noise and reduce it significantly, while not affecting the direct voice signal much at all… extremely useful.

The program has tons of other features that I haven’t had a chance to try yet but promise to be useful. For example, there’s an ambience match that can add “room tone” to a voice track that was recorded on location. I can think of a half dozen times when the de-reverb module would have come in handy.

“Adaptive Phase Rotation” module

One of my favorite modules so far is the Adaptive Phase Rotation feature. This fixes a typically pesky problem of asymmetric waveforms, where there is more amplitude on one side of the infinity line at the center of the screen than the other. Sonically it isn’t a problem and sounds fine, but it robs you of headroom… when you normalize, one side of the waveform limits the amplitude, and your signal is overall slightly lower. (Besides, it bugs me to have a lopsided waveform. I like my waveforms neat and tidy.) With this module, one click corrects the problem without affecting the sound of your signal.

Right now I’m running it on my little 2.6gHz Mac Mini with 8gb of memory. It does OK on the internal drive, but some of the processes take a few minutes on long files (like declicking a 2-sided album). I’ve ordered a 3TB 7200rpm Thunderbolt hard drive that will be dedicated to audio only, and I’ll probably up the memory to 16gb (max for the Mac Mini) first chance I get.

There is so much more that this program can do, it would take weeks to go over it all. And I’m just getting started. But it’s a GREAT tool to have in my audio arsenal, and I’m looking forward to offering it to clients (and generating some additional revenue with it.)

I just returned fro Watts Engineering where Les and I ran some final checks on the Polyribbon. It’s heading up to Vintage King in Chicago for some more testing.

I’ve just completed testing of the Polyribbon that Les sent me, and it’s ready to go. This is easily the finest sounding ribbon microphone that I’ve ever heard. The older RCA77 series suffered from a lack of high end, but this design corrects that deficiency with a response well past 18k. Low output voltage was also a problem, requiring lots of preamp gain (and increasing the preamp self-noise.) This mic comes in at a little hotter than an SM57.

The pattern selector switch is what makes this mic truly unique. This mic can be set to fig 8 like a traditional ribbon, supercardioid, or omni. In figure 8, the side rejection nulls are extremely deep… the mic only hears reflections from the room walls. Try vocals in supercardioid, the side rejection is good, though not as deep as fig 8. A small back lobe lets in some room reflections for a very natural sound. The omni setting has some high-frequency attenuation in the back side of the mic due to the shadow effect of the headbasket.

Proximity effect can be considerable with ribbon mics, and it varies with the pattern on this mic. A two position low cut inductor is provided to help with the equalization. At the max cut position (full clockwise), the filter is calibrated for a flat response at 300mm. The supercardioid setting exhibits moderate proximity effect, there’s a less aggressive filter setting for this. Omni exhibits no proximity effect.

I haven’t gotten this in front of some talent yet… I can’t wait to get to Nashville. Upright bass through this thing should be a signal to die for, as well as vocals. Sax would probably be pretty nuts as well.

The first production Watts Polyribbon in its case.

My friend Les Watts isn’t just an exemplary mic designer. Here’s a video of his latest patent award, the Hear Doggy! It’s a chew toy like most, except it has an ultrasonic squeaker inside. the dogs hear it, but we can’t. Shadow loves it!

Me with Reggie Young, one of the original Nashville Cats.

Reggie Young is a Nashville session guitar playerwho has played on a LOT of hit records. He was one of the “Memphis Boys” and is on about 120 hit records, including several by Elvis, Johnny Cash, The Highwaymen, an was even on a Beatles single. I interviewed him for the upcoming American Masters special on The Highwaymen for PBS/Jim Brown Productions.

I’ve been working with Les Watts for some years now on a new microphone design. Les calls it the Polyribbon. It’s the first multi-pattern ribbon mic built since (I believe) the old RCA 77DX ribbon mic, last built in 1967. The problem with the 77, though, is pretty dismal high frequency response, which drops of around 8k.

The Polyribbon is flat to over 16k. And the output is higher, about the same as a SM57. So far, there’s only one retail-ready version of this mic built, serial number 81501.  And it just arrived at my house.

This one is still undergoing some functional tests, but I couldn’t wait to show it off, so here a re a few pictures. I’m going to rep these mics for Les, so contact me for an audition if you’re in the Atlanta-Nashville-Knoxville area. Retail price for these will be $3,895. This mic is 100% handmade in the USA and uses no Chinese motors or subassemblies. (The case for this first mic was made overseas, but we’re trying to source some nice handmade wooden boxes as well.)

The inside of this mic is complex to say the least, and is full of resonators, wave plates, labyrinths, etc. The basic design is a dual ribbon, with one having a horn-loaded back through an acoustic labyrinth chamber. (more about this later.) Les includes a cutaway illustration in the manual, and it goes without saying that you don’t want to open this thing up and poke around inside. Everything is sealed… even the shafts of the low-cut filter and pattern selector switches are sealed with O-rings.

Some sample audio files will be coming up shortly, as well as response curves, etc. It’s an incredible instrument, with a sonic character that’s Frank-Sinatra-smooth… something that you can only get with a ribbon mic. (And Les’ custom-designed, hand-wound transformer doesn’t hurt, either. Watch this space for more information!

Here’s another series of spots that I worked on for Fancy Rhino/Humanaut here in Chattanooga. These are from the same folks that brought you “The Natural Effect.” Enjoy!

Thanks to my friends at Trew Audio, I’ve recently made some significant upgrades to the wireless department. I’ve sold my old Lectrosonics 211’s and replaced them with a new SRb dual digital receiver. This one has the optional battery back, making it possible to use this as a wireless camera hop. A single-unit hop is much preferred by camera operators over a dual unit, since there’s one less receiver to mount on the camera and one less battery to worry about.

I’ve also upgraded two of my transmitters to SMQV types, with selectable output power levels. (And since I hold an FCC operator’s license, I can legally use the 200mW power setting if necessary.) One of the neat features of these transmitters is the remote control iPhone app. I can change channels, levels, sleep and wake the transmitters by playing a tone on my iPhone rather than digging into the talent’s pockets all the time.

While I dearly love the sound of my Sennheiser 416 shotgun mic, I’ve been wanting to add a hypercardioid to my kit for some time now. These are often used indoors, where a wider pickup pattern can be useful. In the film world, the mic of choice has always been the Schoeps, which is a VERY fine piece of German engineering. I’ve been able to use these on occasion, but two of the four times I’ve used them, there has been problems with electrical noise from the capsule. This could have been a humidity issue, or perhaps age issues. But this experience, combined with a rather significant price tag, has pushed me to look for other alternatives.

The Oktavia MK-012 “movie set”

I’d been saving up for a Sennheiser MKH50 when I began to hear some good things from other mixers about the Oktavia MK-012hypercardioid. These are available in what Oktavia calls a “movie set,” containing an MK012 preamp, a hypercardioid capsule, and a low-cut filter. I found a US supplier on eBay and placed an order, and I’ve had it for a few weeks now.

While the mic comes in a nice wooden box, it’s necessary to unscrew the filter and the head for storage.

I just wrapped a short film where we used this mic on all the interior shots, and I’m happy to report that the mic worked beautifully. No perceptible self-noise, good off-axis rejection, and a really nice overall tone. I doubt that this mic sounds as good as a Schoeps, but since I don’t own one, I can’t make any side-by-side comparisons. I did have a Neumann KM184 that I would use in similar situations, and I believe I prefer the Oktavia. The KM184 gave me a bit too much room ambiance, though being a cardioid mic, this is expected and perhaps a little unfair. The cost of a Schoeps is a big issue, roughly five times what Oktavia goes for.

There are other capsules available in this series… most interesting is the dual fig-8 capsule, which could be used with a shotgun mic to make a nice mid-side combo. The other capsules and pads aren’t much use for location sound, with perhaps the exception of the swivel mount.

If you’re into location sound, you might consider giving this mic a test drive. While it’s NOT the same as a Schoeps, it just might fill in the gaps while you save up your nickels for the big purchase.

So I’m shooting this week on location in Destin, FL. It is nice to be at the beach, even though it’s miserably hot to be carrying around a 40-lb bag and a boompole while everyone around you is on vacation.

Shooting on location in Florida for a TLC show… John Rotan on camera, Matt Martin on sound, and Jesse Beam bringing water before everyone passes out.

And of course, today I get THE call… someone wants me for three days to work on a feature film, their main sound mixer is unavailable. I’ve been trying to break into film work for awhile now, since the physical requirements of reality TV production is starting to show… there’s only so many hours I can haul a bag around, booming at the same time. So it REALLY hurt to have to tell them no, sorry, I’m unavailable. Fortunately, it turns out that the best high-grav beer selection in Destin is at a store just across the street from out hotel, (bonus since I don’t have a car) so I went straight across and grabbed a few to help drown my sorrows at passing up a gig that might’ve made me famous.

A selection of “mixer’s oil,” some high-gravity beer from the place across the street

I’d been looking to try some better earbuds for awhile now… a few years back I was working on a job with another mixer (Steve Grider) who was monitoring through earbuds, and I’d never considered that as an option. His were some relatively expensive Sennheisers… I can’t recall the exact model number, but I remember they have a street price of $300. While I’m sure they sound quite nice, I wasn’t sure that mixing through earbuds would be right for me… and I wasn’t ready to drop $300 on an experiment that might not work. And I rather dislike all of the other earbuds that I’d tried, though none had cost more than $20.

Then I found that Galaxy Audio had a pair of earbuds that were within my “experimental” price range. Their EB6 model retails for about $80… not nearly as expensive as the Sennheisers, but expensive enough that one should expect a reasonable increase on performance over a standard pair of iPod earbuds, which most folks are familiar with.

Actually, stock iPod buds aren’t all THAT bad, but you’d be crazy to mix through them. Their response changes dramatically depending on how they’re inserted in your ear, and they have a tendency to shift of fall out of my ears altogether. There’s plenty of room for improvement.

The EB6 come in a nice case with three different size silicone liners, which fit the drivers to most ears In use, the leads go around the backside of your ears, which prevents them from being jerked out of your ears as you move around. They’re marked R and L, which means a better fit and consistent stereo imaging.

How do they sound? Honestly I’m not the best judge. Earbuds are tough to audition. I haven’t tried many other earbuds, certainly no expensive ones, and I’m kinda weird about sharing earbuds or even buying used ones. Regardless, I really like these buds. I use them mainly for listening to music, and these are far better than the standard iPod buds. Bass is full and solid, but (importantly) NOT overemphasized. Mids have a nice presence, and the highs are clean and clear. If we do an admittedly unfair comparison with my most accurate reference… my AKG K271 headphones… I feel like there is more of an “airy” quality to the highs in the K271s, while the EB6 have more of a “direct” quality to them. This seems to me to be more a basic difference between earbuds vs headphones, rather than any sort of shortcoming in one over the other. While I love the way my K271s sound, they become rather distracting to use after about 30 minutes or so because of the way they press on your ears… it starts to hurt a little. The EB6 don’t have that issue, and I will often fall asleep listening to music on my earbuds… I can’t do that very comfortably with headphones.

Isolation is far better with the EB6s, since they are sealed-type buds. They’re also a lot cooler in the summertime, though I do like my 7506 cans in the winter for keeping my ears warm.

Conclusion… all things considered, these were a great buy and seem to give me a good return on investment. My experiment is still ongoing… I’d still like to try some more expensive buds. But these are nice to use in the meantime.

(Review sample courtesy of me and my wallet.)

Here’s a short bit from Freefly about shooting with their Movi M10 stabilizer. Shooting the taxicab on roller skates is a particularly cool move, even though it’s a bit testosterone-ninja-cowboy gimmicky. I mean, what could go wrong? (Maybe the roller skate wipeout with 25K+ of camera gear didn’t make the edit.) Still, the end shot does look nice, and as long as this kind of move fits the storyline and isn’t overdone, then put it in your bag of tricks. But don’t forget that the Movi M10 has a base cost of around eight grand, though there may be less expensive options now… camera support is seeing some great advances these days, and some amazing gear is showing up at all sorts of price points.